Dillon couldn’t imagine tragedy touching this sunny woman before him. “What happened?” he asked quietly.
Hailey sighed. “The world conquered her. Or at least it tried to,” she amended. “Janelle was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, but she never gave in to it, never let it get her down. She fought it right to the very end. She was my inspiration and she made me promise that no matter what, I would always live life to the fullest. For both of us,” she added emotionally. “Because of her, I learned that you have to grab every single thing that life has to offer and make the very most of it because tomorrow, it could all just disappear.”
Dillon nodded. “I know.”
“You know?” she questioned, confused.
Did that mean he’d decided to stay in Rambling Rose? Or was he saying that was the reason he’d decided to leave?
Her mind was jumping around from one thought to another and her head was beginning to ache. Hailey forced herself to stop, to wait for Dillon to tell her what he intended to do.
“Yes, I do. I get it,” he told her. “Life is short, much too short. And I don’t want to get caught up in all the tiny details and let that get in the way so that I’m wasting time wading through it. Unscrambling the small stuff and not paying attention to the really important things.”
Breathe, Hailey, breathe! Maybe Dillon wasn’t saying he was leaving. Maybe he was—
No, no more jumping to conclusions. Let him talk.
“Maybe I’m not saying this right,” Dillon continued, a little exasperated. “Actually, I know I’m not—”
This was her chance to stop him, she thought. Hailey grabbed it. “Maybe you should wait then, until you feel you have the right words. No point in rushing this,” she told him.
Especially since you can always say goodbye. At the thought, another strong wave of nausea assaulted her stomach.
This was about finding a bone marrow donor for Linus, not about promoting her romance, she upbraided herself. How could she be so self-centered?
And yet...
Lost in thought and trying very hard to rally, she didn’t realize what Dillon was doing until he had dropped down on one knee and taken her hand.
“Hailey,” he began.
Stunned, Hailey’s mouth dropped open. “What are you doing?” she cried.
“Probably making a huge fool of myself,” Dillon guessed. “But I don’t seem to have a choice in the matter.”
Her breath was backing up in her throat again and her heart was doing an imitation of a jackhammer as she continued to stare at Dillon.
Was he—?
It couldn’t be—and yet—
“Dillon?” she questioned uncertainly.
They were attracting attention now, but at this point, she could only see the rugged man before her down on one knee.
“I know that I’m more frog than prince and you do deserve a prince of the highest caliber, but I promise you that if you’ll have me, if you say yes, I will love you with all my heart for as long as we both shall live. Longer,” he added with feeling. “All I want is the chance to show you.
“But I’ll understand if you decide to turn me down, although—”
“Dillon,” Hailey cried, desperately trying to get a word in edgewise.
Ready to go on full steam ahead, he stopped abruptly. “What?”
“Stop talking!” she told him.
He thought she was telling him that to save him any further embarrassment.
“So it’s no?” he asked, trying to brace himself for defeat.
“No, you big dumb oaf,” she laughed. “Stop talking so I can say yes.”
“Yes?” He repeated the word as if he didn’t understand what she was telling him.
Suppressing a laugh, Hailey spelled it out for him. “Yes, I will marry you.”
His eyes widened. “You will?”
“Yes,” she cried again, then, for good measure, before he could question her reasoning, she added, “Because I love you.”
“You do?” he said it as if he didn’t believe that was possible.
“Yes. I’ve loved you ever since you spilled that jasmine on your shirt and then had a sneezing fit.” Her eyes were shining now. “You obviously needed someone in your life. I decided that you needed me,” Hailey told him, smiling broadly.
“But—”
She decided that the only way she was going to get Dillon to stop arguing and accept the answer he had made clear he wanted was to take matters into her own hands.
Or, in this case, it wasn’t her hands that she used, it was her lips.
She pressed them on his and whatever else Dillon was about to say just faded away.
Happily.
Neither one of them heard the volunteers around them cheering. They were far too busy forming their own little world.
Look for the next book in the new Harlequin Special Edition continuity The Fortunes of Texas: Rambling Rose Betting on a Fortune by Nancy Robards Thompson
On sale May 2020, wherever Harlequin books and ebooks are sold.
And catch up with the previous Fortunes of Texas: Rambling Rose titles:
Fortune’s Fresh Start
by Michelle Major
Fortune’s Texas Surprise
by USA TODAY Bestselling Author Stella Bagwell
The Mayor’s Secret Fortune
by USA TODAY Bestselling Author Judy Duarte
Available now!
Keep reading for an excerpt from The Texan Tries Again by Stella Bagwell.
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The Texan Tries Again
by Stella Bagwell
Chapter One
“If I hear anyone mention that damned bridal bouquet one more time I’m going to scream,” Emily-Ann Broadmoor muttered. “Catching the flowers at your wedding is not going to get me a husband. The whole idea is a silly old wives’ tale. So why do you keep harping on
